These two overlap more than their marketing suggests; the split is usually about how you work.
For Budget-sensitive developers; Chinese writing and translation, DeepSeek is the more direct fit. For Free PPT and spreadsheet generation; WeChat and public-account content, Yuanbao gets there with less fighting.
Both have free tiers, so cost only separates them once you hit the limits. Context limits aren't published for both, so treat this as untested until you hit the ceiling yourself.
| Dimension | DeepSeek | Yuanbao |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | Web and app free; API list price deepseek-flash CNY 1 / 2 per million input tokens (off-peak / peak) and CNY 4 / 8 output; deepseek-v4-pro CNY 4.5 / 9 input and CNY 13.5 / 27 output (checked 2026-10-29) | Every feature is free as of this check, including generating and downloading PPT, Word, Excel, PDF and HTML files; a July 2026 report said no paid plan was scheduled (checked 2026-10-29) |
| Context window | 1M tokens of context; up to 384K tokens of output (checked 2026-10-29) | not published |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows | Web, iOS, Android, Desktop (PC) |
| Best for | Budget-sensitive developers; Chinese writing and translation; Private or on-premise deployment | Free PPT and spreadsheet generation; WeChat and public-account content; Students and light office work |
| Availability | Directly reachable inside mainland China with no proxy, and a China edition exists (checked 2026-10-29). | Directly reachable in mainland China with no proxy, and a China edition exists (checked 2026-10-29). |
Budget-sensitive developers; Chinese writing and translation; Private or on-premise deployment. Its strongest point: Publishes open weights you can download and self-host. Watch out for: Almost no multimodal support for images or audio.
Free PPT and spreadsheet generation; WeChat and public-account content; Students and light office work. Its strongest point: Agent-style office work, including file export, costs nothing. Watch out for: Flagship model context window is not published.
There's no reason to pick a single winner if you already pay for one: use the free tier of the other for the tasks it clearly does better.
DeepSeek if you want Budget-sensitive developers. Yuanbao if Free PPT and spreadsheet generation. Neither has a learning curve worth worrying about past the first day.
Yes — both have free tiers, and the pair covers more ground than either alone.
Context limits aren't published for both, so treat this as untested until you hit the ceiling yourself.